Connection · Friendship & community
Check Before You Share: a media literacy class on deepfakes and misinformation
Six short lessons: what misinformation and deepfakes are, why they spread, checking sources, checking images and video, AI fakes in scams and abuse, and what to do before you share or report.
About this course
Media literacy: spot deepfakes and misinformation.
Starter · About 1 hour of learning · 6 lessons · 15 quick checks · 1 download
Who it's for
Adults who want practical, non-political skills for checking news, images and video, and spotting deepfakes and AI scams.
How it works
6 guided lessons in your browser, with worked examples, exercises and a quick check after each lesson. Progress is saved in this browser only, and you can restart at any time. You start with just your first name and email, and you can take one whole course that way. After that, a free account lets you continue past lesson 1.
Sources we rely on
19 published sources, mostly regulators and official bodies, listed below so you can check the original guidance yourself.
By the end you can
- Tell misinformation, disinformation and deepfakes apart
- Use your emotional reaction as a cue to check
- Check a source with three questions and by reading sideways
- Check images and video, and treat detectors and labels as clues
- Verify urgent requests, and know where to report in AU, UK and US
Downloads
- Check before you share toolkit .docxFull versions of the course exercises: spot-the-type practice, feed audit, printable source check card, image and video checks, family safety plan, and share and report guide.
Rules by country
Learning time
About 1 hour of learning. May count towards your CPD or professional development; check your professional body's rules. Estimated from reading time, exercises, quick checks and downloads.
Sources
Check the originals.
How these courses are made. Spotted an error or out-of-date rule? Send a correction.
Not therapy or counseling. If you're struggling, please contact a support service. In an emergency call 000 (AU), 999 (UK), 911 (US/Canada) or 111 (NZ). Anywhere else, call your local emergency number.
- Online disinformation and misinformation · Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
- Fake news and misinformation · eSafety Commissioner (Australia)
- Deepfakes: position statement · eSafety Commissioner (Australia)
- Misinformation Toolkit · Full Fact (UK independent fact-checking charity)
- Civic Online Reasoning · Digital Inquiry Group (originally Stanford History Education Group)
- Evaluating health information · MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine (US)
- Search with an image on Google · Google Search Help
- Content Credentials · Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) project
- Online media literacy resources · GOV.UK (DSIT and DCMS)
- Romance fraud · Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud), City of London Police (UK)
- 159 Phone number · Stop Scams UK (UK)
- Relationship scams · Scamwatch, National Anti-Scam Centre (ACCC, Australia)
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov · Federal Trade Commission (US)
- StopNCII.org: stop non-consensual intimate image abuse · StopNCII.org (operated by SWGfL, which runs the UK Revenge Porn Helpline)
- Revenge Porn Helpline · Revenge Porn Helpline (UK, run by SWGfL)
- How to get in touch · Revenge Porn Helpline (UK, run by SWGfL)
- Triple Zero · Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (AU)
- Contact the police · GOV.UK
- National 911 Program · 911.gov, NHTSA (US)
Publisher
Who publishes this course.
Published by trainyourself.org, a trading name of Combine TRS Pty Ltd (ABN 42 112 983 678), Brisbane, Australia.
How it's made: researched from published official, public-health, university and support-service guidance (general education, not counselling or therapy), then run through automated quality checks against our course depth standard and automated source checks that match each rule to its official source, listed above. Read how these courses are made.
Last updated:
General education, not counseling, therapy, medical or legal advice. If you are struggling, contact one of the support services named in this course; in an emergency, call your local emergency number. Spotted an error or an out-of-date rule? Send us a correction.
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